Customer Support Ticket Response Times [MERGED]

Comments

@Zulu.5489 said:
I am glad i checked here, I was getting a little upset with how long it was taking but now that i know they are backed up, makes me feel better knowing something instead of checking and no response at all

Yes, it is always easier to be patient if one knows the reason for the delay.

That's why it continues to surprise me that ANet's automated response doesn't set our expectations by letting us know there's a long backup. Even if it were the generic, "we apologize for the delays and wish we could tell you how much time you'll have to wait." I'm also disappointed that Mike O'Brien hasn't made a public statement, backing up his support team, apologizing for the delay, and letting us know how hard they are working on making things better.

It shouldn't be left to players to explain to players.

"Face the facts. Then act on them. It's ...the only doctrine I have to offer you, & it's harder than you'd think, because I swear humans seem hardwired to do anything but. Face the facts. Don't pray, don't wish, ...FACE THE FACTS. THEN act." — Quellcrist Falconer

@Zulu.5489 said:
I am glad i checked here, I was getting a little upset with how long it was taking but now that i know they are backed up, makes me feel better knowing something instead of checking and no response at all

Yes, it is always easier to be patient if one knows the reason for the delay.

That's why it continues to surprise me that ANet's automated response doesn't set our expectations by letting us know there's a long backup. Even if it were the generic, "we apologize for the delays and wish we could tell you how much time you'll have to wait." I'm also disappointed that Mike O'Brien hasn't made a public statement, backing up his support team, apologizing for the delay, and letting us know how hard they are working on making things better.

It shouldn't be left to players to explain to players.

I agree. It seems the players have been the ones doing the job of explaining the delay to those who are unfortunately experiencing the problem.. Also it's been what about 5 months now (I think it started when they banned all those cheaters) since the back up started? I'm guessing it is getting better given there seems to be a lower number of complaints. Still it seems a bit lacking for Anet not to address the issue more often (and instead rely on the player base) as it has been almost 2 months since their last post about it and maybe at least give some sort of occasional update on how things are progressing.

The very helpful players here already provide a significant amount of support for other players which most likely reduces the number of tickets submitted as the advice often solves the problem. A monthly update from Anet regarding the support back log would be nice. It would also help the players addressing the concerns of other players as well since we could give more up to date information aside from, "tickets may take 1-'x' weeks due to current back log."

@JustTrogdor.7892 said:
Also it's been what about 5 months now (I think it started when they banned all those cheaters) since the back up started?

There was already a backlog before that, just nothing close to as bad.

To protect accounts from phishers, ANet has added requirements to proving ownership before resetting passwords. That means more time spent by agents, which results in slower overall response times. I believe (but lack evidence) that a lot of people returned for Wintersday and forgot their passwords, and that set Support back. Add Lunar New Years (also popular) plus new LS releases. Plus the mass suspension. Plus the change of policy for the EU on privacy (resulting in questions and requests for data). Plus the migration of people from Bliss.

It's all understandable from anyone who has ever worked customer support in a global firm, with more than a few thousand customer/clients. (And all incomprehensible for those who just want to get back in the game or reset authentication or replace a lost item.)

"Face the facts. Then act on them. It's ...the only doctrine I have to offer you, & it's harder than you'd think, because I swear humans seem hardwired to do anything but. Face the facts. Don't pray, don't wish, ...FACE THE FACTS. THEN act." — Quellcrist Falconer

In that case it seems GW2 support has been highly lacking for some time now. I think it is time for players to stop making excuses for Anet when it comes to customer support. To say well, "this happened," then "this happened," and "now this also happened," is getting a bit worn out in my opinion. They have had the better part of a year to correct it and prepare for the next thing that "happens". I wonder how many customers they have lost due to this.

That makes me think of another question. Is there not someone in charge of the support team? It seems the support team should have a manager or lead. If so do they not have forum privileges where they could take a few minutes every so often and post updates on the back log? It seems Gaile, who no longer works for support, has to do something that isn't really her job and look into it every few months. That doesn't seem very fair to her. I think Anet uses Zendesk at least for the support software. Maybe support is sourced to Zendesk as well and there is nothing Anet can do about it?

Either way I think Anet needs to be more transparent when it comes to customer support issues. Perhaps that means adding a note to the auto generated email when things are backed up as you suggested or having someone from support posting more updates here.

@JustTrogdor.7892 said:
In that case it seems GW2 support has been highly lacking for some time now. I think it is time for players to stop making excuses for Anet when it comes to customer support. To say well, "this happened," then "this happened," and "now this also happened," is getting a bit worn out in my opinion. They have had the better part of a year to correct it and prepare for the next thing that "happens". I wonder how many customers they have lost due to this.

That makes me think of another question. Is there not someone in charge of the support team? It seems the support team should have a manager or lead. If so do they not have forum privileges where they could take a few minutes every so often and post updates on the back log? It seems Gaile, who no longer works for support, has to do something that isn't really her job and look into it every few months. That doesn't seem very fair to her. I think Anet uses Zendesk at least for the support software. Maybe support is sourced to Zendesk as well and there is nothing Anet can do about it?

Either way I think Anet needs to be more transparent when it comes to customer support issues. Perhaps that means adding a note to the auto generated email when things are backed up as you suggested or having someone from support posting more updates here.

I definitely agree. If there's anyone in charge at all of Support, he's not doing a very good job. "Email Support" having a turnaround time of 1 to 2 weeks is atrocious lol. If this happened to the "real life" companies, say good bye to your customer base. Good thing it's just a "game" that customers can "play" the game to get distracted while waiting for the reply. smh.

To be fair, it's much easier and faster to check chat logs and click a few buttons in real time than figure out which team to send the ticket to and look up all the information related to the support ticket. That said, 30 minutes against 45 days, sweet lord that's depressing... Fingers crossed support comes back to me soon.

I don't want be a person that nags, I have never chased up a ticket, but I guess back in the days when I submitted tickets they were answered within hours. I heard on Reddit last week or the week before that ticket response is back to normal, so what is normal?

I submitted a ticket on the 8th September and I haven't had a response. I have post on the update post and updated the ticket, but nothing. I was expecting something to be sorted by now?

Thanks

@Emmalouise.1763 said:
Hi Gaile, my ticket has been unanswered for 7 days now and I am wondering if you could advise if there is a problem with it? I am eager to get it resolved before the patch.
Thanks
Ticket No 7068518

I don't want be a person that nags, I have never chased up a ticket, but I guess back in the days when I submitted tickets they were answered within hours. I heard on Reddit last week or the week before that ticket response is back to normal, so what is normal?

I submitted a ticket on the 8th September and I haven't had a response. I have post on the update post and updated the ticket, but nothing. I was expecting something to be sorted by now?

Thanks

@Emmalouise.1763 said:
Hi Gaile, my ticket has been unanswered for 7 days now and I am wondering if you could advise if there is a problem with it? I am eager to get it resolved before the patch.
Thanks
Ticket No 7068518

They haven't said that response times are back to normal. They said that they are on the way back.
Generally speaking, they try to answer tickets quickly, but 3-day turn around was the only number I've ever seen mentioned by them as an internal goal. Depending on the issue, it wouldn't surprise me if some people are getting answers within 24 hours and some need two weeks, with most 2-4 days.
(I also wouldn't be surprised if most are under 3 days or over 5.)

"Face the facts. Then act on them. It's ...the only doctrine I have to offer you, & it's harder than you'd think, because I swear humans seem hardwired to do anything but. Face the facts. Don't pray, don't wish, ...FACE THE FACTS. THEN act." — Quellcrist Falconer

I don't want be a person that nags, I have never chased up a ticket, but I guess back in the days when I submitted tickets they were answered within hours. I heard on Reddit last week or the week before that ticket response is back to normal, so what is normal?

I submitted a ticket on the 8th September and I haven't had a response. I have post on the update post and updated the ticket, but nothing. I was expecting something to be sorted by now?

Thanks

@Emmalouise.1763 said:
Hi Gaile, my ticket has been unanswered for 7 days now and I am wondering if you could advise if there is a problem with it? I am eager to get it resolved before the patch.
Thanks
Ticket No 7068518

They haven't said that response times are back to normal. They said that they are on the way back.
Generally speaking, they try to answer tickets quickly, but 3-day turn around was the only number I've ever seen mentioned by them as an internal goal. Depending on the issue, it wouldn't surprise me if some people are getting answers within 24 hours and some need two weeks, with most 2-4 days.
(I also wouldn't be surprised if most are under 3 days or over 5.)

My problem is quite straight forward. I am making my 3rd set of legendary armor. I bought 6 Envoy Insignia's, lagged for a sec and clicked and bought another 6 and wasted all my LI. I just need confirmation that I can delete the spare 6 insignia's and they send 150 LI back. so I can make the armor and not have to farm all the LI again.

I was hoping this would be fixed in time for the patch after hearing about the LI coverting to LD thing.

I have no desire to make more than 3 armors, first world problems, huh

@Emmalouise.1763 said:
My problem is quite straight forward. I am making my 3rd set of legendary armor. I bought 6 Envoy Insignia's, lagged for a sec and clicked and bought another 6 and wasted all my LI. I just need confirmation that I can delete the spare 6 insignia's and they send 150 LI back. so I can make the armor and not have to farm all the LI again.

Don't delete anything. Wait for ANet to get back to you.
The most likely thing to happen will be that, yes, they'll ask you to delete and afterward be able to send you corresponding LI tokens, which you can convert to currency.

The reason for waiting is that (a) they need to investigate and it's far, far easier for them to see what you have on you right now than what you might (or might not) have (had) earlier. The key to any support request (whether for ANet or elsewhere) is always: make it easy for them to make it easy for you.

I was hoping this would be fixed in time for the patch after hearing about the LI coverting to LD thing.

It would be nice, but I wouldn't count on it. My guess is that replacement requests are low priority and that anything related to LI ends up being tricky, so takes more time to research.

I have no desire to make more than 3 armors,

Can't blame you

first world problems, huh

Eh, sure, it's a problem a lot of other people would like to have. But it's still a problem for you. And since ANet is generous (to a fault, perhaps) in helping us take a mulligan on overspending gold or other currencies, this seems very much like something worth asking about.

(It's just that you might have to wait longer than someone trying to unlock their account after a long absence, for example.)

Good luck

"Face the facts. Then act on them. It's ...the only doctrine I have to offer you, & it's harder than you'd think, because I swear humans seem hardwired to do anything but. Face the facts. Don't pray, don't wish, ...FACE THE FACTS. THEN act." — Quellcrist Falconer

Sadly, since the new release, I think they'll prioritize the tickets surrounding it first, so that it's a successful new release, and after that they'll get their hands on the other tickets.

It's a bit unfair how - first arrived, first served, but the ones about real money, or payments, or gem store etc. etc. are almost treated immediately. Like looked at and updated, as if within the hour. Tickets about account changes (like e-mails etc. are treated like in about 24h) but when it comes to somethink like in-game items, characters etc (something not related moneywise) it's put on hold for some reason.

(All of those cases are from tickets I had gone through, not pulling info out of a hat)

Support is weak in this game. Now, I am NOT saying they are incompetent. No! CS teams are after all people with knowledge, they are trained to do their job.
The way however, the system as if is a bit shaky.
First - you don't know if the representative is working on the issue (you just see last activity changes and you're thinking: "Wow, they're gonna solve it now" and then the wait begins) - no updates whatsoever. Like if they need some more info, or to just sum up the ticket or I don't know - any response is better than no response at all until the end.
Second - remember how another MMO has live chat in particular times of the day? Why not try and implement that. Outsourcing, call center - I know it might be costly, but hey - better service options -better chances of increasing the revenue, profits when people are served well.
And besides - that other MMO is in the millions of customers, and CS answers in like hours. I think GW2 has a lower playerbase than that. It is manageable.

And don't tell me GW2 Support is understaffed. From personal experience, I have worked as support - we were about 60 people taking about 100 calls and 100 written support tickets a shift. That's 12,000 calls+tickets in total for a single shift. And that's a single 8 hour shift. Multiply that by 3 (cus you have the 24/7 policy. It comes to around a total of 36,000 calls + tickets for 24h, from which 32,000 were successful)

The difference between my last ticket here, and the newest one is 8,503 tickets (you can calculate it from the ticket number)
Now, don't tell me Support is, as one person joked - 3 people shifting every 8 hours It's a massive game whatsoever.

I'm probably just ranting about it, because I don't have statistics on the Support to base this on, but hey - show me statistics and I'll happily admit I'm wrong.
And besides - not defending only myself, but fellow customers as well - have a ticket almost 4 days old now. About 3 days is almost fine, we can take it. But everything else is just tragic. You can't have a HUUUGE backlog if people are working 24/7 as stated, unless you're REALLY heavily understaffed or everyone got their summer vacations in the same day

@batepress.6310 said:
Sadly, since the new release, I think they'll prioritize the tickets surrounding it first, so that it's a successful new release, and after that they'll get their hands on the other tickets.

It's a bit unfair how - first arrived, first served, but the ones about real money, or payments, or gem store etc. etc. are almost treated immediately. Like looked at and updated, as if within the hour. Tickets about account changes (like e-mails etc. are treated like in about 24h) but when it comes to somethink like in-game items, characters etc (something not related moneywise) it's put on hold for some reason.

(All of those cases are from tickets I had gone through, not pulling info out of a hat)

Support is weak in this game. Now, I am NOT saying they are incompetent. No! CS teams are after all people with knowledge, they are trained to do their job.
The way however, the system as if is a bit shaky.
First - you don't know if the representative is working on the issue (you just see last activity changes and you're thinking: "Wow, they're gonna solve it now" and then the wait begins) - no updates whatsoever. Like if they need some more info, or to just sum up the ticket or I don't know - any response is better than no response at all until the end.
Second - remember how another MMO has live chat in particular times of the day? Why not try and implement that. Outsourcing, call center - I know it might be costly, but hey - better service options -better chances of increasing the revenue, profits when people are served well.
And besides - that other MMO is in the millions of customers, and CS answers in like hours. I think GW2 has a lower playerbase than that. It is manageable.

And don't tell me GW2 Support is understaffed. From personal experience, I have worked as support - we were about 60 people taking about 100 calls and 100 written support tickets a shift. That's 12,000 calls+tickets in total for a single shift. And that's a single 8 hour shift. Multiply that by 3 (cus you have the 24/7 policy. It comes to around a total of 36,000 calls + tickets for 24h, from which 32,000 were successful)

The difference between my last ticket here, and the newest one is 8,503 tickets (you can calculate it from the ticket number)
Now, don't tell me Support is, as one person joked - 3 people shifting every 8 hours It's a massive game whatsoever.

I'm probably just ranting about it, because I don't have statistics on the Support to base this on, but hey - show me statistics and I'll happily admit I'm wrong.
And besides - not defending only myself, but fellow customers as well - have a ticket almost 4 days old now. About 3 days is almost fine, we can take it. But everything else is just tragic. You can't have a HUUUGE backlog if people are working 24/7 as stated, unless you're REALLY heavily understaffed or everyone got their summer vacations in the same day

Have anet ever said they have 24/7 support? Maybe they only have it 8am-4pm

ArenaNet has repeatedly stated that CS works 24/7/365.
Tickets are handled first come, first serve and then sent to the appropriate CS Team. Some Teams have less backlog, some have more. Depending on the issue, resolutions can take more time, or take less.

ANet hasn't said. Last word we had was the wait times were going down, but that doesn't mean that your ticket (or mine) will get answered quickly; it just means that most people aren't waiting as long in September as they did in June.

"Face the facts. Then act on them. It's ...the only doctrine I have to offer you, & it's harder than you'd think, because I swear humans seem hardwired to do anything but. Face the facts. Don't pray, don't wish, ...FACE THE FACTS. THEN act." — Quellcrist Falconer

Hello to all. So, I contacted the support two days ago to ask if it was possible to reset my account (I would like to return to play GW2 from the beginning, after several months of absence), or, at most, delete the existing one so you can create one new and start again completely from the beginning. I am very disappointed that, to date, I have not yet received an answer. This makes me worry even in the future. Is it possible that the support is so slow to respond? I have read about cases where some users have waited a month to receive news from the staff. For me, in a mmorpg, reliable support is almost equal to the content of the game itself. So I would like to know from the experts how much longer there is to wait (considering their experiences). Thank you.

PS: I hope to be in the right section. Otherwise, I apologize for this.

There is no way to 'reset' your account. You can create a new account by either creating a Play4Free account (with restrictions) or purchasing one or both of the expansions. You can find information in the Knowledge Base accessed via the 'Support' link above/below.

In the past, when there is no high volume of tickets, the CS Team has allowed itself 72 hours to respond. There has been a backlog due to high volume for the past few months.

Having a really bad problem with my account, sent a support ticket, takes days for them to respond (if they ever respond). Most companies i sent support tickets in the past from other games respond in matter of hours. Anyone here have any experiences with customer support tickets latelly? what kind of waiting time did u guys get from them?

It does usually take up to a week or longer to reply. Sometimes they just don't depending on the question. I would suggest you just delete all your characters and stuff you have in your bank. That's the closest you can get. You do have the achievements still though. But completely starting over would mean you would have to buy all the lw seasons for gems again as well. You sure you want that? Just start over with a new character

Thanks for the suggestions. Unfortunately, creating a new character is an idea I have already experienced in the past, and it has bored me quickly. My intention is to start completely from scratch, and "rediscover" the game from the beginning. Playing with already completed achivements that can alter the gaming experience is not very rewarding. Besides, I have already asked the support to cancel my account (if it was not possible to reset it). But the problem at this point remains just this aspect. A support so slow to provide a simple answer, like the one placed in my ticket, leaves me very puzzled about its reliability. I really hope it's just a period of overcrowding ...

We have a community that feels it is their right to contact customer service and ask for help when they make a mistake crafting or that they should get reimbursed every time something goes on sale for 20% off a month after they bought it in the gemstore.
We have a large number of trigger-happy "do-gooders" who will report people to CS for everything from making a meta event take too long to playing their novelty instruments in crowded places.
We have a large number of low-skilled PVP'ers who cry "hacker" every time they lose a game fairly.

And we have a network of "helpers" on this forum and reddit that enable this behavior by telling them to do it.

Same situation with my ticket. And by now almost 3 days have passed. I'm sorry to have to admit it, but if this is the case I'll see again my intentions to go back to GW2. I have never seen such long waiting times in any other mmorpg ...

@diogene.6249 said:
Thanks for the suggestions. Unfortunately, creating a new character is an idea I have already experienced in the past, and it has bored me quickly. My intention is to start completely from scratch, and "rediscover" the game from the beginning. Playing with already completed achivements that can alter the gaming experience is not very rewarding. Besides, I have already asked the support to cancel my account (if it was not possible to reset it). But the problem at this point remains just this aspect. A support so slow to provide a simple answer, like the one placed in my ticket, leaves me very puzzled about its reliability. I really hope it's just a period of overcrowding ...

They're not going to agree to wipe your account clean (they might not even be able to do such a thing). If you want to start from step one, you'll need to make a brand new account (a free account would give you what you're wanting, but with the free account restrictions). As for your wait time for your ticket, you've only been waiting two days so far. Try to be patient.

@diogene.6249 said:
Same situation with my ticket. And by now almost 3 days have passed. I'm sorry to have to admit it, but if this is the case I'll see again my intentions to go back to GW2. I have never seen such long waiting times in any other mmorpg ...

They quite clearly say up to 72 hrs!! Almost 3 days isn't 72 hrs. And with a new LS released you can expect longer waits.

@diogene.6249 said:
Same situation with my ticket. And by now almost 3 days have passed. I'm sorry to have to admit it, but if this is the case I'll see again my intentions to go back to GW2. I have never seen such long waiting times in any other mmorpg ...

They quite clearly say up to 72 hrs!! Almost 3 days isn't 72 hrs. And with a new LS released you can expect longer waits.

I certainly expect longer waits, since in less than an hour will have already passed 3 exact days (72 hours, to want to be picky). So the times, as they are reported, have already passed. And a support that takes so long to respond is not very reassuring ...